WASHINGTON — After nearly a year of operation, NASA’s Ingenuity Mars helicopter is still “as good as new” as it serves as a scout for the Perseverance rover.
NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory announced March 11 that Ingenuity completed its 21st meter flight on the planet, traveling 370 during a 129-second flight. The helicopter has now covered a distance of more than 4.6 kilometers since its first flight in April 2021.
The intelligence was developed as a demonstration of the technology, with the initial plan being no more than five flights a month. The incredible performance of the 1.8 kilogram helicopter, however, led NASA to expand its mission, using it as a rangefinder to inspect the terrain ahead of the Perseverance rover that brought Ingenuity to Mars.
The information Ingenuity provides has saved time for Perseverance. “It certainly cuts a few sol, maybe a week, from the rover’s time frame by having this advanced information,” said Matt Golombek, a senior research scientist at JPL who has been involved with the Mars lander since Mars Pathfinder, during the March 8 media briefing at Lunar and Planetary Sciences Conference. A sol is a Martian day, about 40 minutes longer than a terrestrial day.
Other scientists involved with Perseverance agree that Ingenuity is useful. “I was really impressed with how well it worked and how useful it was,” said Justin Simon, a planetary scientist at NASA’s Johnson Space Center who worked on the Perseverance mission, during the March 7 conference session. fully anticipated, at least by myself.”
Keyron Hickman-Lewis of the British Museum of Natural History, another Perseverance scientist, said at the conference session that Intelligence is very helpful when Perseverance negotiates a territory called Séítah. “The terrain is not optimal for a rover,” he said of the region. “This insight is invaluable.”
That work will continue as Perseverance heads into the remnants of the river delta in the coming weeks. “The aim is to keep the helicopter in front of the rover to provide further information that will aid in its exploration,” Golombek said. That includes the reconnaissance paths the rover can take into the delta and identify rocks for the rover to study with its instrument suite.
The intelligence itself is showing no signs of wear and tear after nearly a year of flying on Mars. “So far, we have not found any relegation or loss in the helicopter. It’s still as good as new,” he said.
This solar powered helicopter also has no consumables to limit its lifespan. “There is nothing going all out and nothing to stop us from continuing to operate as long as we stay healthy,” he said, hoping that Ingenuity would continue to operate until something broke.
Performance is more important, he adds, because of the use of commercial parts that have previously qualified for the space in Ingenuity, rather than customized components. “It’s a bit remarkable that we haven’t suffered relegation or lost any aspect of the helicopter,” he said.
Golombek said Ingenuity’s performance demonstrates how useful such helicopters can be in future exploration, although NASA currently has no definite plans for additional helicopter missions. “The idea of the technology demo is to show that this is a new way to explore Mars,” he said. “Intelligence has shown promise in this kind of way to continue our exploration of the red planet.”
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